By Ighomuaye Lucky. O
The founder, OyaConnect Ltd and convener Inspirex Community, Ikenna Ikpa, has called on federal and state government to partner the foundation to help discover and groom the immense potentials embedded in the Nigerian youths.
He made the call during the Oyaconnect Inspire Creative Summit ’25 with the theme:”Innovative for the future” held in Benin.
Mr. Ikpa said that the foundation has been able to reach out to 2000 youths who are willing to develop their creative abilities as the world gravitates towards a global village, courtesy of the modern days technology.
“We have reached out to over 2,000 youths currently, but within our inner circle in terms of mentorship, we have a little above 200 that we are constantly engaging with.
“And also because of that engagement that we are currently working on our hub.
“We are trying to set up our hub where we can have a regular monthly conversation with them. Not just conversation, it is like a town hall meeting where we take time to discuss, to learn and also help them.
“So, we are bringing mentors, people that they look up to, to also come and talk to them and inspire them.
“So far, we have helped over 200 person within our cycle to be better, not self-sufficient per se, but be better because we are all work in progress but they have been able to discover themselves and move from where they were and they are making progress”, Ikpa said.
Ikpa said that there is nothing new under the sun but the only difference is that, some persons, through their innovative skills, have been able to improve on the old things around them to make them look new again.
He said that most Nigerian youths try to go through life as a volunteer victims, building up excuses why they cannot do what they can and should not do, and which according to him, is wrong, noting that, they must learn to discover, develop and sustain whatever they have if they must move forward in life.
He further called on the federal and the state government to join hands with them so that the dreams of the youths could be realized adding that, most of them are very talented but just needed the necessary push and motivation to have it come to fruition.
“So we are doing our best. We are partnering with private individuals.
“We have churns of a whole lot of young people that are skilled but don’t know how to go about it.
“So, we are also asking the government to come on board. We are playing our part and we know we need others to make our state and our nation a better place”, Ikpa said.
